Rate the Race: 2023 Belgian Grand Prix sprint race

38 comments on “Rate the Race: 2023 Belgian Grand Prix sprint race”

1. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   29th July 2023, 17:17

   Good racing in the end for 11 laps.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      29th July 2023, 19:45

      Yeah, I quite enjoyed this one. A bit of a shame about the SC taking some of those laps out, but that’s what you get on a wet track.
   2. 

      Yellow Baron
      29th July 2023, 20:29

      I don’t see what he point was in a 9 lap race. Wasn’t it suppose to be 15?
      1. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore1)
         30th July 2023, 1:54

         Yes, they ran 4-5 formation laps or so behind the SC that were counted as racing laps…
2. 

   Alex (@)
   29th July 2023, 17:19

   Rain management so silly. Delayed quali further than necessary – meaning they had to delay the race for the 4h30 limit – meaning they didn’t start in the dry, got caught by rain, started an hour late; must have been about 6 laps of 11 under a safety car in the end?
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      30th July 2023, 1:53

      Yes, that’s right, embarassing.
3. 

   MadMax (@madmax)
   29th July 2023, 17:21

   Too short, too much delayed, RBR again 1s faster than the rest. F1 became a boring joke.
   1. 

      f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
      29th July 2023, 17:24

      Only one redbull
      1. 

         MadMax (@madmax)
         29th July 2023, 17:34

         Cause of the other driver. The car itself is easily 0.5 to 1 s faster than any other car.
         1. 

            Ronald (@mosquito)
            29th July 2023, 17:38

            We will not know until another driver gets in that second seat. Until now apparently Gasly, Albon and Perez are worthless drivers.
            1. 

               MadMax (@madmax)
               29th July 2023, 17:48

               RBR is a one driver team, they focus on their favourite driver only.
4. 

   Gusm.ai
   29th July 2023, 17:27

   I liked the event – possibly it made a little easier the decision to scrap “sprints”.
5. 

   Sviat
   29th July 2023, 17:30

   The less we say about this nonsense, the better.
6. 

   asd
   29th July 2023, 17:30

   What’s the point of ever putting wet tyres on if they only allow to race once inters can be used? This is so annoying. It’s like they essentially eliminated wet weather racing from Formula 1, but won’t admit it straight up, but instead give us fake formation laps to pretend they mean to race in the wet.
   1. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      29th July 2023, 17:54

      Exactly. This race just felt like being roundly insulted by FIA, it left me angry, which isn’t actually that common an occurrence for me watching F1.
   2. 

      Dale
      29th July 2023, 18:48

      Agree 100%
      That race could have been started on time, but even after they delayed and went behind the pace car … it should have started at least 3 laps earlier.

      We’ve seen races and sessions delayed or cancelled for some really stupid reasons lately, from drying surfaces to circuit CCTV cameras not working … things that were never ever a problem before. Times like this I miss Bernie and Charlie. Can’t see it happening under their watch.
   3. 

      Bertie
      29th July 2023, 18:52

      It was pretty funny to see 20 Formula 1 cars being used as utility vehicles to clear the water off the track. It created some enjoyable pandemonium at the green flag though.
7. 

   Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
   29th July 2023, 17:30

   Testicles. Waste of so many people’s weekends. Waiting, safety, more waiting, penalties, pointlessly short session on a long lap, but we get to see a racing lap on blue wet tyres.
   1. 

      Gusm.ai
      29th July 2023, 17:34

      I think only capitalism can save us now: whoever it is, I doubt the sponsors will keep paying for this.
8. 

   The Edge (@the-edge)
   29th July 2023, 17:36

   They need to change the rule about having to start on full wets, really unfair to half the field
   1. 

      Gusm.ai
      29th July 2023, 17:48

      Another point: the full wet dont work. If it keeps raining, the race is red flagged. If the rain stops, soon teams put the inters on, and a few laps later comes a full yellow flag because there inters didnt work well enough and the wets were pointless. It only pushes for bad decisions from teams and race direction.
9. 

   Sergey Martyn
   29th July 2023, 17:41

   Flush these sprints down the drain.
   Ministry of silly walks.
10. 

    BLS (@brightlampshade)
    29th July 2023, 17:43

    Hard to give it a good score when the racing part resulted in a penalty. Why not have a 3rd qualifying session if racing isn’t allowed?
    1. 

       Yellow Baron
       29th July 2023, 20:33

       The GPs normally are qualifying sessions
11. 

    David BR (@david-br)
    29th July 2023, 17:51

    2. Spa is the best track on the circuit. Including because it rains and we get wet-weather races. Except now we don’t, only some horrendous ‘spray’ version because the car+tyre designs are catastrophic for wet-weather racing. Why do full wets even exist any longer? Then we get some actual racing and the stewards penalize Hamilton for what exactly? It was a racing incident, both driving aggressively but not too hard, Hamilton alongside without dive-bombing anyone, where Pérez simply came out worse. Just atrocious stewarding.
    1. 

       melanos
       29th July 2023, 20:16

       for what exactly?

       Causing a collision
       Clear as day
       Hard to know if it was intentional or just a loss of control understeering, but that’s beside the point
       Very poor driving both ways
       1. 

          MadMax (@madmax)
          29th July 2023, 22:06

          maybe dont squeeze the driver alongside on the inside line in wet conditions.
12. 

    Nick (@filge90)
    29th July 2023, 18:27

    As a lifelong F1 fan I’m not so sure i will continue to watch if F1 continues down this path.
13. 

    Billy (@roobyroo)
    29th July 2023, 19:30

    Well done to Piastri on his 2nd place but, if you look at their relative tyre wear, Verstappen’s experience on those tyres in those conditions meant it was inevitable he’d take the lead. That’s no disservice to Piastri as far more experienced drivers struggled to maintain their tyres and their pace towards the end.
14. 

    Coventry Climax
    29th July 2023, 19:34

    Minus 10.
    Two qualifications in a row, what a farce.
    Ditch this sprint nonsense asap.
15. 

    Jim from US (@jimfromus)
    29th July 2023, 20:01

    Agree with most comments above. If you aren’t going to allow racing in the rain, I understand, it is dangerous, take Spa off the list. If you won’t race when the cars need full wet tires, don’t race in full wets, start on inters or park the cars. And if you are going to have a 15 lap race, have a 15 lap race. They could have waited longer and used jet dryers to dry the track.
16. 

    MichaelN
    29th July 2023, 20:01

    Watched the highlights, and judging from some of the comments above, they apparently went with the old ‘oh we can’t race because it’s too wet, by the way, let’s all pit for inters’. Does nobody in F1 remember Spain 1996 was a good wet race, with only five or six finishers and not a single safety car lap? Let them race! This isn’t a junior category.

    Hard to see from the aerial footage how far Hamilton was squeezed or even pushed unto the kerbs before the contact with Pérez. But judging from Pérez’ other antics with the Ferrari’s it wouldn’t be surprising that his line contributed to Hamilton being compromised. Didn’t seem like one of Hamilton’s classic ‘understeer’-moments, anyway.

    Not much else seems to have happened. Big win for the sprint format, I guess.
    1. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore1)
       30th July 2023, 1:49

       Indeed, I so miss the old full wet races; btw, as spa and rain is obviously the main theme nowadays, I’m watching spa 1989 nowadays, the penultimate full wet race at this track, and the best lap was 2.12! I know the cars were a bit slower back then, but they were using full wet tyres from start to end, and in that period there were 12 years between driver’s deaths: villeneuve in 1982 and senna + ratzenberger (in dry conditions) in 1994, so it’s not like racing in the wet caused so many deaths in f1, it seemed pretty safe back then already.
17. 

    If I'm not wery much mistaken (@ifiamnotwerymuchmistaken)
    29th July 2023, 20:23

    If someone had told me 10, 20 or 30 years ago the most uninteresting F1 event I ever saw will be at Spa during rain, I wouldn’t have believed them.
    1. 

       Coventry Climax
       30th July 2023, 0:18

       That is very, very true. And very, very sad.
    2. 

       dot_com (@dot_com)
       30th July 2023, 0:22

       100% agree.
    3. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore1)
       30th July 2023, 1:51

       Absolutely pathetic by the fia, always delaying sessions when it’s raining, so that you only get 10-15 mins of intermediate running before the track completely dries up, wasting 4 laps behind the SC before starting in an already short race, excessive penalty to hamilton, which means he’d have been better off running a procession.

       I gave it 7 only cause we had some rain, I’d actually give a 10 to the weather today, because if we didn’t have cowards leading f1 both the sprint quali and the sprint would’ve been in full we conditions, they had to delay both.
    4. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore1)
       30th July 2023, 1:52

       full wet conditions*

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